Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved as many as 20 projects at the cost of Rs 80.6 billion, out of which five projects valuing Rs 60.9 billion were referred to Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further proceedings.
The CDWP met with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz in the chair at P-Bloch of the Secretariat on Monday. Senior officials from federal and provincial governments participated in the meeting. The projects presented for approval includes energy, transport & communications, physical planning & housing, science & technology, governance, devolution & area development, industries & commerce, health and mass media.
In energy sector, a project titled 220kV Mastung substation along with 220kV Sibbi-Mastung-Quetta-Loralai double circuit transmission lines worth Rs 14.143 billion was referred to ECNEC for further approval. The main objective of the project is up-gradation of existing 132kV Mastung grid station to 220kV level along with associated transmission lines to meet the additional load demand and voltage profile improvement of QESCO area.
The CDWP approved four projects in transport & communication sector out of which one was referred to ECNEC for approval. The projects include land acquisition, affected properties compensation and relocation of utilities for KKH Phase-2 CPEC (Havelian-Thakot) project, 119.681km, reconstruction of Manghopir Road from Jam Chakro to Banaras, 8.10km, construction of flyover at Sakhi Hassan, and KDA roundabout along Sher Shah Suri Road, Karachi. Lastly, reconstruction of Nishtar Road from Teen Hatti to Napier and Manghopir Road from Banaras to Nishter was approved in CDWP.
In physical planning & housing, 5-MGD Reverse Osmosis Sea Water Plant for Gwadar city was approved in CDWP. The project aims to meet the future demand of 10MGD water by 2020. In governance section, assessing and strengthening the competition regime in Pakistan at cost of Rs 157 million was approved in CDWP. The major aim of CCP was to provide a legal framework to create a business environment based on healthy competition for improving economic efficiency, developing competitiveness and protecting consumers from anti-competitive practices.
In devolution and area development, Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project (SPPAP) was referred to ECNEC worth Rs 7.6 billion. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to reduction of poverty in southern Punjab region. The project aims to increase the income of the poor households by increasing agriculture productivity, improving livelihood opportunities and improving community physical infrastructure and level of skills through vocational trainings, especially for women.
In industries & commerce unit, procurement of three machines for modernization of Survey of Pakistan and 1,000 industrial stitching units were approved with costs Rs 373.9 million and Rs 350.5 million respectively.
In health section, three projects were discussed and approved which include Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) program 2015-2018, MNCH Gilgit-Baltistan and MNCH AJK at cost of Rs 862.352 million, Rs 340.374 million and Rs 1497.901 million respectively.
Strengthening of Sports Infrastructure was approved with a cost of Rs 2.9 billion. The project envisages upgrading and strengthening existing sports infrastructure in the country by replacement/provision/up-gradation of various sports facilities in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Narowal. The objectives of the project are to enhance skills of national and international players through provision of world-class training facilities and holding international, regional and national level sports competitions for almost all indoor and outdoor games.
In science and technology section, six projects were approved in CDWP out of which one project was referred to ECNEC worth Rs 20.9 billion. The projects include overseas scholarship for PhD in selected fields. The project envisages PhD level training of 2,000 talented candidates in selected fields to meet the faculty requirement of the already established and newly proposal skills. In addition, five projects were approved by CDWP including establishment of college of nursing & strengthening of community medicine department at Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women Nawabshah, up-gradation of synthetic fiber development and application centre (SFDAC) and plastic technology centre (PTC) Karachi as a sub-campus of National Textile University, establishment of women campus of Kohat university of science & technology in Kohat, establishment of university campus for women at Bannu and lastly, institute of science & technology Bahawalpur.